Make it a game

Why games work

Ask a group to dribble up and down and you get half effort. Turn it into dribble tag and the same players go flat out, with their heads up, changing direction, protecting the ball. Same skill, very different practice.

Games bring their own motivation. You spend less time asking for effort and more time watching what your players actually do.

Five ways to turn a drill into a game

• Add a score: first to five, most in a minute, points for doing the thing you're working on.
• Add a clock: how many can the team make in sixty seconds? Then try to beat it.
• Add an opponent: a chaser, a defender, or another group racing you.
• Add a target the whole team shares: twenty swishes between us, ten passes without a drop.
• Add a consequence that's fun, not a punishment: winners choose the next game, coaches do the press-ups.

Keep everyone in it

Be careful with knockout games. The players who go out first are usually the ones who most need the practice. Give them a way back in (ten ball taps and you rejoin), or play short rounds so nobody sits for long.

Score in a way that rewards what you want to see. If today is about passing, a basket after three passes is worth double. Players very quickly do whatever earns points.

Beat your own score

Not every child loves competing against others. Racing your own best score works for everyone: it's fair, and the whole group can improve at once.